SAVE OUR CLUBS FACEBOOK SITE- PLEASE HAVE A LOOK and JOIN THE CAMPAIGN

Shaun Whitaker, of Intake Social Club in Doncaster, feels like hundreds and thousands of us do up and down the country. Incensed. Disappointed. Frustrated. Worried for the future of our clubs. In fact, he was so incensed by the destructive attitude of the government towards clubs, pubs and live entertainment that he set up a new Facebook Group to campaign on their behalf. We urge you, our readers all over the world, to take a look at that also at the short video on YouTube. Please then try and act on what you see!

The Facebook group is no ‘flash in pan’ group, as Shaun says but includes entertainers, agencies, radio presenters and other media folk.

Ruth, here at Club Historians, was motivated by the quickening pace of club closures several years back that she set up this site in order to try to do something positive for clubs. Shaun’s campaigning zeal is now moving us into another type of action and hopefully a head of steam will mount to bring to the fore the essential community roles that clubs play in our society and what great venues they can still provide for live entertainment.

Shaun’s Facebook Group was set up on Jan 18th and is already receiving a great deal of attention.

Shaun points out how all the most popular soaps on TV revolve around a pub. Ruth has always wondered why no TV writer has set a soap around a local club, as this would be more fitting for many communities where it is the club that provides the central venue for working men and their families. As elsewhere, they have been neglected by the media. Perhaps now they are beginning to take note.

To this end, Ruth is always willing to speak with radio and TV presenters about the long history of clubs and clubland and has given interviews for many local BBC radio stations. But we could ALL get involved in some small way, helping to popularise the cause and help to save our clubs!

So, don’t delay, have a look and join up and if you haven’t visited your local club for a while, go round there soon and pay your annual subs to help keep it going. Take some friends along, or your kids. Have a game of snooker, bingo or just a quiet chat with your friends over a beer. Hire out the function room for your birthday or theirs. Have some fun in good company! Don’t let them fade away forever!